Running
by xxkatrina
Summary: Kate's still running, but not for something. For someone. JATE OneShot


Kate knew it. The only thing she had was her tiny airplane, which was her favorite possession. But besides that, she had nothing. Absolutely nothing. Kate sighed, while sitting on the cold, sandy beach. It was late at night, and she was all alone by her own-made fire.

"Hey," she heard. Startled, Kate turned around to face Jack. He was smiling down at her. She gave a weak smile in reply, then turned around to the fire again. Jack sat down next to her in an awkward silence.

"I want to hear you say it," Kate said softly.

"...What?" Jack asked, creasing his eyebrows. He shifted his weight, suddenly uncomfortable on her new topic. Suddenly he found himself hoping for something odd. Kate looked up at Jack and he noticed a twinkle of sadness in her eyes.

"I want you to admit I have _nothing_," Kate said. Then she continued when Jack opened his mouth to say something, "That I have nothing to live for. I'm a criminal, anyway. All I do is run, and I'll keep running forever. Admit it, please. I want to get this out of my system."

"Kate, I'm not going to tell you that horrible lie," Jack said, frowning in concern.

"'_Lie_'?" she asked, turning to face him. "There is no 'lie', Jack. Just please... I want to hear someone say it. I don't have anything."

"Yes, yes you do have something," Jack said, after a moment's pause. Kate frowned, confused.

"No, I _don't_," she said, not knowing why she had just snapped at him. Jack released a depressed sigh, and she immediately regretted saying that.

"Open your eyes, Kate," Jack said. "You do have something. It's been right in front of you."

"Oh, yeah, what's that?" Kate asked, getting angry. "Death on the island? Isn't that what we're all waiting for, anyway? We're not getting rescued, okay! I just know it. We might as well make the best out of this."

"Kate!" Jack said, already angry. "You do have something! Open your eyes, Kate! What's right in front of you?" Then he said in a softer tone, "You do have something, Kate... me."

Kate sat still, speechless. Jack got up and brushed the sand from his pants sadly, then turned around and started to walk away. Kate had the urge to go to him and say, 'I know, Jack. I'm sorry I was mad. I know that all I have now is you and my airplane. I know, Jack, I know.' But she knew it wasn't that easy. It never was easy for her. _Ever_. She always had to take the long, painful and uneven road up to a destination. She sighed, feeling tears build up in her eyes, causing her vision to be blurred.

"I'm so stupid," she muttered to herself under her breath. "Why am I always so _stupid_...?" Then she thought to herself, 'I might as well go to sleep now. There's nothing else I can do.' Then she stopped. She then realized that there was something she could do. She quickly got out a pen and some paper from her backpack and felt a smile tug at her lips.

**-------------------**

The next day at the caves, Jack awoke peacefully. Yawning, he rubbed his eyes and looked around. Everyone seemed fine, and everything seemed perfect and okay. He smiled, then the smile quickly disappeared as he thought of something that wasn't perfect at the moment.

Kate.

He sighed, knowing that he could never get her to change her mind. He knew that she could only do that. Sighing again, he stood up and looked around for his backpack. After a moment, he found a note laying beside it. His eyebrows scrunched up in confusion as he picked it up.

_I'm sorry. I truly am. Please, Jack, don't be mad at me. I just want to let you know that you don't have to worry about where I am or what I'm doing. I can take care of myself, trust me. You should worry about everyone else. They need your help more than I do. I feel so stupid. You were right. You ARE the only thing I have now. How come I didn't come to realize that? So don't come looking for me. I'll just be running.  
- Kate_

Jack shut his eyes and sighed, as he put the note in his pocket. He picked up his backpack and headed for the jungle. He started to run, as he wanted to get to the beach and find Kate. He just couldn't resist for some reason. He_had_ to see her. He just had to.

"Kate!" he called, his hands over his mouth. "Kate?" He then remembered the last sentence of the note.

_'I'll just be running.'_

Jack frowned and stomped his foot stubbornly, like a 5 year old child. He knew he would never find Kate.

"Kate!" he called once more, starting to run again. "_KATE_!"

**-------------------**

Kate shook her head as she sat on the branch of the tree. She had the urge to go and find Jack, but every once in a while, that urge would disappear into guilt. She felt stupid for being stupid. She shook her head again, confused.

"Kate!" she merely heard. She immediately sat upright. Then he heard the same call again. "_Kate_!"

"Jack?" she whispered, holding onto a branch for support. She looked down and notcied that she wasn't too far from the ground. It would be easy to simply jump down, so she did and landed with a grunt of pain. Putting a hand on her leg, she suddenly remember Jack. She forgot about all the pain, and put it behind her, and started to run.

"Kate!" she heard again. Then she heard a long, depressing sigh. She knew that she was close, but she still had no clue where to run to. "...Kate."

"Jack?" she said, loud enough so he can hear. "Where are you!"

"Over here!" he called, standing still. Suddenly Kate appeared out of the trees right in front of him, panting heavily. He stared at her, suddenly at a loss of words.

"...I got your note," Jack said, thinking of something to say.

"Yeah, I kind of figured you would read it sooner or later," Kate said. "Did you read it or no?"

"I read it," Jack said, nodding. "And there's no reason to be sorry. I'm the jerk, I-"

"No," Kate stated firmly. "Don't turn this around at you, Jack. Just don't. It's my fault."

After a long pause, Jack let out a sigh and said, "Okay. Fine." Then he thought for a moment and said, "What were you doing out there alone? You could get hurt."

"Whenever it comes to me, it's always 'What happened to you?' or 'Why were you alone in the jungle?'," Kate said, staring at the ground sadly. She looked up at Jack and said, "I barely get a decent 'Hey' out of you." She shrugged sadly, knowing Jack was seeing a new side of Kate.

"No, no, no," Jack said, raising his arms up. "Don't take it that way. I'm just worried, that's all. Just..._worried_. And what _were_ you doing out there all alone?"

"I was running," Kate said, stating the obvious. Jack sighed.

"Running for what?" Jack said, shrugging. "I told you, Kate. The past is the past, and it'll always be the past. Just accept it. We all did, 'cause we're all stuck on this island."

"No...," Kate said, shaking her head. "I wasn't running because of that. I already know that. You've taught that to me."

"...Then why were you running?" Jack asked eagerly, cocking an eyebrow. Kate smiled.

"I was running to find you."

**-------------------**

**Author's Note: **Well, a plot suddenly popped into my head and I decided to write it down and make it a fanfic. It's short, yes, I know, but oh well. Go Jateness! Woohoo! Lol.


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